I have recently observed that my interaction with the landscape is increasingly filtered through more and more layers of digital technology. Be it my camera, my computer, my iPhone, or my TV; I am purposely placing a screen between myself and my direct experience and memory of the landscape.

This growing habit reinforces my place as an observer in my consciousness and yet we know that the observer is never neutral. I_AM affecting the land. Do the layers of digital interface dim the land’s affect on me?

I_AM

I have recently observed that my interaction with the landscape is increasingly filtered through more and more layers of digital technology. Be it my camera, my computer, my iPhone, or my TV; I am purposely placing a screen between myself and my direct experience and memory of the landscape.

This growing habit reinforces my place as an observer in my consciousness and yet we know that the observer is never neutral. I_AM affecting the land. Do the layers of digital interface dim the land’s affect on me?

I_AM installation

I_AM installation

I_AM installation

I_AM installation

I_AM installation

POSER

Is my relationship with the “environment” an affected manner I
create to delude myself?

I set out to explore my relationship with nature and often that
exploration leads towards the picturesque, but the picturesque is an illusion.

My identity is an illusion.

This
video performance is my attempt to explore this artifice.

poser

POSER back brace

Disparate Bodies

I
spend weekends and holidays out in the woods, on the wind swept plains of my
birthplace, or in the mountains where I grew up, and yet I realize that my
physical and psychological contact with my environs becomes more tenuous every
year.

My
cell phone, my flat screen TV, a constant wireless connection, a computer;
these devices form the foundation for my connection with our western society
and yet they consume more electrical resources every year. Like a cataract,
these devises increase the opacity of the screen through which I view my
altered landscape.

Am I
conscious of my impact and my place in my environment?

Do I
pretend to sit in the land, but in actuality, I am on the land?

disparate bodies

Disparate Bodies installation

Disparate Bodies is a piece exploring the growing disconnect my generation has with our environment. At a time where “the environment” is vogue politically, socially, and economically, environmentalism seems less a state of consciousness and more a film that when added makes it easier to consume.

A figure on the landscape, separated by space and form

The work was filmed on the high plains of North Dakota. The final installation of the work will consist of a video documenting the performance and the installation of the chair and finger apparatus.

I would like the express my sincere gratitude to Kyle Pherson. I could not have created this piece without his help. My thanks

Reach video still

Whenever we enter the land, sooner
or later we pick up the scent of our own histories.

- William Least Heat-Moon

A
figure in the landscape... touching earth. I perceive my body. I perceive the
earth. And yet my perception of my body is separate from my perception of
earth.

How
far is my reach?

Reach

Whenever we enter the land, sooner
or later we pick up the scent of our own histories.

- William Least Heat-Moon

A
figure in the landscape... touching earth. I perceive my body. I perceive the
earth. And yet my perception of my body is separate from my perception of
earth.

How
far is my reach?

Reach manikin

Manifest Series

I am
interested in the marks our culture leaves in landscape, but
also what intrigues me is the constructed image of the individual who
makes his mark on the land. I have chosen to use the masculine depiction of
man, because I am interested in how Manifest Destiny, an imperialist nineteenth
century white male invention, is still playing a defining role in our American
culture’s representation of the ideal individual who lives within the
landscape. This person has been for better part of my life, the Marlboro Man.
Michael S. Kimmel and Amy Aronson did a fantastic analysis of symbolism in the
advent of the Marlboro Man in their book Men and Masculinities.

Manifest Series

The
Marlboro Man symbolizes (the image of) the American Frontiersman, the old
fashioned Wild West Cowboy. This form of masculinity evokes images of man
against nature, of man as the tamer and dominator of nature and peoples. As he
lives in a presocietal world without rules, he makes his own rules. He exists
in “uncivilized” territory where his object is to stake out a piece of the
world. This trailblazing involves destroying and subduing indigenous peoples,
nature and animals. The American Frontiersman is therefore wild, free and
unrestrained by society, yet at the same time he is transcendent of nature in
that he is a civilizer. He is the tamer and controller of nature.

Manifest Series

What
if I were to ask the Marlboro Man to recognize the mark he leaves in the
landscape? Could I force him to become aware of his presence in the land? Could
the process of recognition also function as an act of penitence? These were the
questions I set out to answer in this body of work.

The
performance was recorded and documented. I invite you to listen and observe.

The
exhibition of this work includes the photo documentation of the performance and
the sculptural object used by the "Marlboro Man".

Manifest Series

Manifest Series

Manifest Series

Manifest Series

Manifest Series

Manifest Series

I_AM

I have recently observed that my interaction with the landscape is increasingly filtered through more and more layers of digital technology. Be it my camera, my computer, my iPhone, or my TV; I am purposely placing a screen between myself and my direct experience and memory of the landscape.

This growing habit reinforces my place as an observer in my consciousness and yet we know that the observer is never neutral. I_AM affecting the land. Do the layers of digital interface dim the land’s affect on me?

I_AM

I have recently observed that my interaction with the landscape is increasingly filtered through more and more layers of digital technology. Be it my camera, my computer, my iPhone, or my TV; I am purposely placing a screen between myself and my direct experience and memory of the landscape.

This growing habit reinforces my place as an observer in my consciousness and yet we know that the observer is never neutral. I_AM affecting the land. Do the layers of digital interface dim the land’s affect on me?

I_AM installation

I_AM installation

I_AM installation

I_AM installation

I_AM installation

POSER

Is my relationship with the “environment” an affected manner I
create to delude myself?

I set out to explore my relationship with nature and often that
exploration leads towards the picturesque, but the picturesque is an illusion.

My identity is an illusion.

This
video performance is my attempt to explore this artifice.

poser

POSER back brace

Disparate Bodies

I
spend weekends and holidays out in the woods, on the wind swept plains of my
birthplace, or in the mountains where I grew up, and yet I realize that my
physical and psychological contact with my environs becomes more tenuous every
year.

My
cell phone, my flat screen TV, a constant wireless connection, a computer;
these devices form the foundation for my connection with our western society
and yet they consume more electrical resources every year. Like a cataract,
these devises increase the opacity of the screen through which I view my
altered landscape.

Am I
conscious of my impact and my place in my environment?

Do I
pretend to sit in the land, but in actuality, I am on the land?

disparate bodies

Disparate Bodies installation

Disparate Bodies is a piece exploring the growing disconnect my generation has with our environment. At a time where “the environment” is vogue politically, socially, and economically, environmentalism seems less a state of consciousness and more a film that when added makes it easier to consume.

A figure on the landscape, separated by space and form

The work was filmed on the high plains of North Dakota. The final installation of the work will consist of a video documenting the performance and the installation of the chair and finger apparatus.

I would like the express my sincere gratitude to Kyle Pherson. I could not have created this piece without his help. My thanks

Reach video still

Whenever we enter the land, sooner
or later we pick up the scent of our own histories.

- William Least Heat-Moon

A
figure in the landscape... touching earth. I perceive my body. I perceive the
earth. And yet my perception of my body is separate from my perception of
earth.

How
far is my reach?

Reach

Whenever we enter the land, sooner
or later we pick up the scent of our own histories.

- William Least Heat-Moon

A
figure in the landscape... touching earth. I perceive my body. I perceive the
earth. And yet my perception of my body is separate from my perception of
earth.

How
far is my reach?

Reach manikin

Manifest Series

I am
interested in the marks our culture leaves in landscape, but
also what intrigues me is the constructed image of the individual who
makes his mark on the land. I have chosen to use the masculine depiction of
man, because I am interested in how Manifest Destiny, an imperialist nineteenth
century white male invention, is still playing a defining role in our American
culture’s representation of the ideal individual who lives within the
landscape. This person has been for better part of my life, the Marlboro Man.
Michael S. Kimmel and Amy Aronson did a fantastic analysis of symbolism in the
advent of the Marlboro Man in their book Men and Masculinities.

Manifest Series

The
Marlboro Man symbolizes (the image of) the American Frontiersman, the old
fashioned Wild West Cowboy. This form of masculinity evokes images of man
against nature, of man as the tamer and dominator of nature and peoples. As he
lives in a presocietal world without rules, he makes his own rules. He exists
in “uncivilized” territory where his object is to stake out a piece of the
world. This trailblazing involves destroying and subduing indigenous peoples,
nature and animals. The American Frontiersman is therefore wild, free and
unrestrained by society, yet at the same time he is transcendent of nature in
that he is a civilizer. He is the tamer and controller of nature.

Manifest Series

What
if I were to ask the Marlboro Man to recognize the mark he leaves in the
landscape? Could I force him to become aware of his presence in the land? Could
the process of recognition also function as an act of penitence? These were the
questions I set out to answer in this body of work.

The
performance was recorded and documented. I invite you to listen and observe.

The
exhibition of this work includes the photo documentation of the performance and
the sculptural object used by the "Marlboro Man".